Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Taz Sherman's return, the 3-ball and some good Roy Williams mojo helped West Virginia to a 79-63 victory over Iowa State Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Williams was here tonight after calling up West Virginina coach Bob Huggins and telling him he's never been to the WVU Coliseum and would like to see tonight's game with his wife Wanda, Huggins said on his pregame radio show.
 
So, instead of one of his former Mountaineer teammates or some friends using a couple of his comp tickets, it was the fifth-winningest coach in NCAA history and his wife, and they got to watch the Mountaineers snap their seven-game losing streak – the longest in eight years.
 
"It feels great, it's been a long-time (since our last victory) seemingly," Huggins said afterward. "Getting Taz back was a huge shot in the arm for everybody."
 
Sherman, who missed last Saturday's 60-53 loss to Texas Tech while in concussion protocol, gave West Virginia a big boost with perhaps his best all-around game of the season. The senior scored a team-high 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out six assists, both career highs.
 
The Mountaineers also connected on 10 of their 20 3-point field goal tries.

"I knew I was going to have to come back with a strong game to help us get off this losing skid, and I think we played hard today," Sherman said. "I really like what we did today defensively; offensively we got some ball movement and we made some free throws."
 
Huggins juggled his starting lineup tonight with Sherman, Sean McNeil and freshman Kobe Johnson starting in the backcourt with Pauly Paulicap joining Jalen Bridges up front.
 
Bridges and Johnson began the game with 3s and West Virginia built an early 13-point lead against an Iowa State team coming off a 41-point performance three nights prior at Texas. Freshman guard Seth Wilson also gave WVU an early lift with a season-high 7 points in about a two-minute stretch coming off the bench. 
 
"We made shots," Huggins said. "We ran pretty good offense and we kept them spread, which is what we wanted to do. And then we got some transition baskets, which always helps."
 
The Mountaineers' 11-point halftime advantage was reduced by two at the start of the second half when forward Gabe Osabuohien was issued a technical foul arguing a blocking call as the teams were leaving the floor to go into the locker room.
 
Izaiah Brockington made both free throws to begin the second half, but the Mountaineers quickly made up for it with some free throws from Bridges and Sherman, and then Kedrian Johnson's breakaway dunk.
 
The lead swelled to 19 on a Sherman 3 with 11:02 left, but a five-minute field goal drought allowed the Cyclones to reduce West Virginia's lead to 10, 58-48, on Jaden Walker's layup.
 
Here, Bridges and McNeil made back-to-back 3s in a span of 29 seconds to put West Virginia ahead by 15.
 
The Mountaineers' eight second-half field goals doubled their Saturday output against Texas Tech, and four of those came from behind the arc. They also cashed in on 20 of 23 from the free throw line after intermission.
 
Overall, West Virginia was 25 of 29 from the charity stripe and shot 50% from the floor (22 of 44). For one of the few times this season, WVU also had a sizable 37 to 28 advantage on the glass and turned Iowa State's 14 turnovers into 23 points.
 
The Cyclones left points at the free throw line, making just 12 of 22, and scored only 16 points off of West Virginia's 20 turnovers.
 
"We passed it extremely well in the first half and then in the second half we got loose with it again," Huggins said.
 
Bridges and Malik Curry contributed 14 points each, while McNeil finished with 13.
 
Tyrese Hunter led Iowa State with 22.
 
Brockington, the Big 12's fourth-leading scorer averaged 16.9 points per game, was held to just 11 on 4-of-12 shooting. 
 
"He was the key guy and the guy we were keying on," Huggins said. "That was pretty much a team effort because we had a bunch of different people on him – it wasn't just one guy."
 
Tonight's victory before an announced crowd of 11,191 boosts West Virginia's record to 14-9, 3-7, and was the Mountaineers' first win in 28 days. Iowa State, ranked as high as No. 8 just a month ago, falls to 16-8, 3-8 and drops below West Virginia into last place in the Big 12 standings.
 
The Mountaineers are back on the road for a pair of conference games at Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon and at Kansas State on Monday night. Both games will be televised nationally on ESPN2.